Spitfire Bar & Grill — Restaurant in West Fargo

My wife and I went to Spitfire on a Sunday night. It was relatively busy, but the wait wasn't long to be seated. Our server promptly ignored us for around 10-15 minutes, with one other table beside us waiting to pay so they could leave, and an empty table beside them (presumably in her section). They waited awhile to pay, getting to the point of asking a different server to ring them up so they could leave. Once our server eventually got to us, she was fine. My wife ordered a Tom Collins with Hendricks gin, I ordered the manhattan (if I recall correctly it was supposed to be made with Bulleitt bourbon). My wife took one sip and told me there was no way that her drink was made with Hendricks, because it didn't taste right. She's pretty particular with Gin because she has a mild allergy to some other brands. I drank some of my manhattan and it was so heavily poured with vermouth that I couldn't taste anything else in the drink. Drinks came in very small glasses, filled fully with ice. Maybe 3oz of total drink in the glass. We ordered our food, a little unhappy with the drinks but at the end of the day, if I wanted it made exactly the way I like I should have stayed home and made my drink, right?

The food was fine, but took awhile to get to us. I have no complaints, I ordered shrimp and it was definitely shrimp. My wife got the brisket wrap, there was plenty of brisket. No complaints to be had here. Around half way through our meal, my wife asked for a gin and tonic, again reiterating she wanted Hendricks and mentioned that the last one did not taste like Hendricks. She got that drink quickly, and again it was not Hendricks gin, and was so burnt she really didn't want it anymore. We finished eating, and after a different server took our plates away we waited an additional 10-15 minutes for the check.

Once I got it, I was a little taken aback. The total was $78 for an appetizer($15!! For the texas egg rolls, which I believe amounted to 3(?) Egg rolls cut in half) two entrees and three drinks. That wouldn't have bugged me as much if I didn't notice that we were, in fact, charged for Hendricks when she didn't get it in her cocktails. At this point, I had been at the restaurant for a little over an hour and a half, and I wanted to go home. Said screw it, I'm not about to fight an uphill battle after she already finished her drinks about whether they tasted right or not.

After this visit, we likely will not be returning for a combination of reasons. It was expensive for what we got, the food tastes fine but not worth the price they charge. The cocktails are absolutely not worth the price they charge ($8.50 for a gin and tonic seems pretty expensive when you get a very small glass).

In summary, if you have $100 burning a hole in your pocket and want okay food and bad drinks, here's a...

Let me start by saying that I went there hoping to love it. As a native Southerner, good BBQ has been a giant hole in my Fargo experience. I have found several options, but none of them decent.

Let me start with the good: The restaurant is clean and cozy. The smell of the rotisserie wafts through the building, enhancing the experience. Also, the meats that we had were nicely smoked.

Unfortunately, the bad offsets much of that. Our server Amanda was friendly, but not overly attentive. We ordered a Rib Trio appetizer that never arrived. That said, our entrées arrived quickly. I had the pulled pork sadwich with spicy sauce, cole slaw, and onion rings. The meat was very good, but the sauce portion was miniscule, and I had to wait some time for Amanda to check back so that I could ask for more. Unfortunately, the spicy BBQ sauce is really not very flavorful, though it did have a bit of zing. The onion rings were over fried and bland. The potato roll was good.

My wife had the Classic Rotisserie chicken. While it was decent, $22.50 for half of an equally tasty chicken available Costco for $4.99 is just aggravating. She did enjoy the mashed potatoes and gravy. We split a brown butter cake served with ice cream... kinda. It was a machine made soft serve. Super cheap and super easy, but not really in line with the $8 price point. It was, overall, just okay. Amanda brought our check, and there was no appetizer listed. I'm not sure if she forgot to enter it, or if she removed it when she realized that we hadn't received it, but she didn't acknowledge the error.

On the way out of the restaurant, the lobby was empty except for the two ladies at the host's stand. One was laying over the top while they conversed. They made no acknowledgement of us until we said "Thank you!" to which they responded "Mmm hmm."

I feel like this place has a lot of potential. They have large catering vehicles and what looked like a mobile smoker in the parking lot, so they are probably making decent money. My frustration is that they are good where others are not, and that is the meat. However, for the money that they charge, I expect attentive service, delicious sides, and tasty sauce.

Didn't hate it, but can't really...

Spitfire has always been the best place for BBQ and fun. Great place for bevies and watch sports. However, our most recent experience was nothing we have experienced before. We called earlier in the day on 05/13/24 to ask if we needed to order early for a larger order as we would be celebrating mothers day with our mom and dad coming to town after UND graduation. We had bragged about the dry rub ribs. We were told we only needed to call about 20 minutes prior. So at approximately 6pm we called to place order and were told they were not taking orders over the phone and would have to physically come in to place order. We went in to place order (no waiting line) and placed order for 3 full racks of ribs. Two dry rub and one with sauce.. All we wanted was the ribs and no sides but were told the price would be the same. We asked for the seasoned rice as sides for all 3. So we go to pay and at this time find out the rib price was $5 more per rack then whats stated on-line. Online it states $27 but menu in-house states $32. We are given the total of something like $115.00 hand over cash and get a discount for using cash so the total was now like $107.00 and also give a very large tip. We are told it would be approximately 20 minutes. After 20 minutes we come back in and food just sitting on shelf. No heat lamp or warming station but no big deal we can warm if needed. When we get home, to our surprise all 3 racks are sauced and some spots are quite salty like we like salt but it was a bit much in places. The rice was absolutely horrific. The taste was very chemically. It was unedible. Like none of us could even swallow it. Very disappointing. Its unfortunate to have had this experience. It really changes your mind about even...